The girls' voices drew nearer and finally, at the foot of the slope leading up to the camp, she was forced to halt and drop her burden.
"Come down and help me, Madge!" she cried. "It's a boy—a boy! He can't help himself. Come quick!"
The girls were only a few yards away, but so fiercely did the wind blow that Ruth had to repeat her call for help before Madge Steele understood. Then the big girl dropped down off the ledge and plowed her way toward Ruth and her burden.
"The poor fellow! who is he?" gasped Madge, as together they raised the strange boy and started up the sharp ascent.
"Not Tom! Oh! it's never Tom?" shrieked Helen at the top of the hill.
"No, no!" gasped Ruth. "It's—the—boy—that—ran away."
They got him upon the dry ledge of rock before the fire. His cheeks showed frostbitten spots, and Jennie began to rub them with snow. "That's the way to treat frostbite," she declared. "Take off his boots. If his feet are frosted we'll have to treat them the same way."
Helen and Belle obeyed Heavy, who seemed quite practical in this emergency. Ruth had no strength, or breath, for the time being, but lay beside the fire herself. Meanwhile Madge and
